Cab, bus or metro, book a ride from same app

From buses and metros to the Olas and Ubers, our travel choices have increased dramatically over the past few years, and so has the ease of making these choices. A number of multi-modal transportation apps have emerged, including Trafi, Go Bengaluru, ZopHop, and YoRide, that combine transport modes including walking, cycling, buses, cabs, metro rail and autorickshaws to give you the best option of reaching your destination within a particular city.

BENGALURU: From buses and metros to the Olas and Ubers, our travel choices have increased dramatically over the past few years, and so has the ease of making these choices. A number of multi-modal transportation apps have emerged, including Trafi, Go Bengaluru, ZopHop, and YoRide, that combine transport modes including walking, cycling, buses, cabs, metro rail and autorickshaws to give you the best option of reaching your destination within a particular city.

An Android app called Go Bengaluru, launched by digital printing major Xerox in June, also gives consumers the option to choose from among the fastest mode, the cheapest and the greenest one. It has around 5,000 users so far.

Lithuania-based Trafi, which launched services in India this February, already has 100,000 users across three cities - Bengaluru, Mumbai, and Pune. Globally, across nine countries, its app has seen more than 1 million downloads.

"We are looking at anything that will let you keep your personal vehicle at home and will help you move better," director for Trafi's India operations, Rajarshi Sahai, says. However, the company is staying clear of cycling options due to the inadequate bike lane system in India. And, to cater to poor connectivity areas, it even provides an offline option.

Most of the apps work with local transport authorities to ensure accurate information and improve performance. Xerox works with the Bengaluru Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) to use its intelligent transport system (ITS) to improve the public transport route options and expected time of arrival provided in the app. It has also partnered with services providers like Ola, and fleet management and tracking firm Sun Telematics to allow users to book cabs from within the app.

ZopHop, which has 100,000 users, provides a bus ticketing option for travellers in Mumbai. It has tied up with the Kalyan-Dombivilli municipal corporation for this and gets a commission of 1-2% for every ticket booked. It also provides real-time availability and tracking options by installing GPS on BEST (Brihanmumbai Electric Supply & Transport) undertaking buses. "About 46% of office goers in India use public transport. We need to provide people with real-time availability of buses," says Nikhil Aggarwal, co-founder, ZopHop, which has raised Rs 2.9 crore in seed funding from angel investors including Anupam Mittal, CEO, People Group, and Times Internet CEO Satyan Gajwani.

Like Go Bengaluru, it has included cab and auto aggregators like Uber and Jugnoo into the system. Uber pays a transaction fee to ZopHop every time a trip is booked through the app. Karan Mohla, executive director of venture firm IDG, says meta search engines or aggregators like these have worked well in the travel and hotel industry and if the players get scale, they could be influential in intra-city transportation too. "While their model involves low cash burn and low user acquisition costs, success depends on how much affiliate revenue or ad revenue they can generate," he said.

The model is even attracting some who started with a different idea. Ryder, a ride sharing platform, has turned into YoRide, a multi-modal platform, after it found the former stagnating. The new platform allows users to book cab services like Ola, Uber, FastTrack, and MegaCabs, and is moving towards providing real time arrival timings of buses and metros. "People who have used the app more than twice rarely delete the app," says Murali Tirupati, CEO and founder of YoRide.Xerox says once a lot of users come on the platform, the data generated can help a city make better decisions about transport services. For instance, if a lot of users are walking or taking an auto to a nearby metro station, the city could provide the area with a metro feeder service.